14 Cool Things About Indianola Fact Sheet 1. Indianola’s population is 14,932. That’s nearly 14 percent more people than 13 years ago. Indianola’s population is the same size as River Falls, Wisconsin, Hereford, Texas and Riverdale, Georgia. 2. The median age here is 34 years old (source: 2010 U.S. Census Bureau). 3. 95.5 percent of us have a high school degree or some form of higher education (source: 2010 U.S. Census Bureau). 4. Our school district has about 3,500 students. Indianola’s graduation rate is 98 percent. 5. The National Balloon Classic brings nearly 75,000 visitors to Indianola each year. 6. The Des Moines Metro Opera draws a crowd of more than 36,000 attendees to Indianola each year. 7. Indianola’s Bike Night attracts about 10,000 people to our city’s Square one Friday night each month. 8. In 2014, U.S. News and World Report ranked Indianola High School among the top 20 in Iowa as part of its “Best High Schools in America” feature. 9. Second only to Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, the Des Moines Metro Opera, based in Indianola, has by percentage, the largest number of out-of-town ticket buyers of any other opera company in the country (Source: OPERA America). 10. 91% of our citizens say they enjoy living in Indianola. 11. The National Balloon Museum in Indianola chronicles more than 200 years of ballooning history. 12. Former Major League Baseball player, Casey Blake, is an Indianola native and now lives here full time with his family. Blake played MLB baseball for several teams including the Minnesota Twins, Cleveland Indians and most recently the Los Angeles Dodgers before his retirement in 2012. 13. This year, the Des Moines Metro Opera had visitors from 37 states, three foreign countries and 66 counties come to Indianola for a performance. 14. Mayor Shaw is a 1984 graduate of Indianola High School..